Improvement in hobby-horses



Hobby-Horse.

No. 213.708. Patented Mar. 25,1879.

? if I a VV'ia z, eggefi: Q (1/ fad/750K Aw N; PETERS PHOTD-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC A. STOWE, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN HOBBY-HORSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 213,708, dated March 25, 1879; application filed February 10, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC A. S'roWE, of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hobby-Horses; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawin gs,which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in hobby-horses; and it consists in suspending the body on four swinging supports and connecting the front end of the body with a crank, which crank has lines attached to it, reaching back into the body, so that by pulling upon the said crank the body will be made to swing freely backand forth, as will be more fully described hereinafter.

Figure l is a side elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same.

A represents a rectangular frame of any desired size, which has a number of posts, 0, rising to any desired height from its top edge.

Pivoted to the top of these posts, on their inner sides, are the supporting rods or links D, which links have their lower ends pivoted to the posts which project downward from the bottom of the body E.

The posts F will be made of any desired length, and will project down inside of the frame A, as shown, so that the body will always ride near to the floor.

Should it be desired to give the body an increased length of swing as it plays back and forth, the posts Oand F and the supportingrods will be correspondingly lengthened.

Projecting downward from the front end of the body is a post, G, to which is fastened the connecting-rod H. The front end of this connecting-rod is pivoted to the lower end of the rod or crank L, which is pivoted in or upon the standard I, rising from the front end of the frame.

To the upper end of this rod L is fastened the cross-rod N, upon each end of which is secured the head of some animal-as here shown, a horse; and to these horses heads are connected a pair of driving-reins,which extend back into the body, for the children to take hold of and cause the body to swing back and forth.

By pulling upon the reins the lower end of the rod L is thrown forward, drawing the body forward to a correspondin g degree, which, being no longer evenly balanced upon the supporting-rods, will spring backward in position as soon as the pull upon the reins is released. Another pull upon the reins causes the body to again swing forward, and again return to position as soon as the hold upon the reins is released, and in this way the body can be made to swing pleasantly back and forth for any desired length of time.

Should a cheaper form of this invention be needed, the horses heads may be dispensed with, and, instead of the present addition to the rod L, the rod will form a simple crank, which will answer all practical purposes, but, of course, not be as attractiveto children.

I am aware that a swinging body fastened to a lever near its top, the lever being pivoted at its lower end, so that the two vibrate together, is not new, and this I disclaim.

The operating-lever in my case is pivoted at its center, and the connecting-rod unites it to the body at the lower end, so that when the upper end of the lever is drawn back the body moves forward, and vice versa.

Having thus described my invention, I claim The combination of the swinging body E, having the projections F, supporting-rods l), connecting-rod H, and standard I, having the lever L, pivoted at N, upon it, the body and lever being connected together at their lower ends, so as to move in opposite directions, substantially as shown.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of January, 1879.

\ I. A. STOWE.

Witnesses:

B. W. LEONARD, L. M. SLADE. 

